In his book “Breath” by James Nestor he writes, “A Danish Physiologist named Christian Boher discovered in his laboratory in Copenhagen, that what our bodies needed more of was not Oxygen but Carbon Dioxide.”
He knew that when oxygen went into a cell, carbon dioxide came out. But he didn’t know why this exchange took place. Why did some cells get oxygen more easily than others?
How did breathing really work?
He gathered chickens, guinea pigs, grass snakes, dogs and horses and measured how much oxygen the animals consumed and how much carbon dioxide they produced. He drew blood and exposed it to different amounts of these gasses, namely, oxygen and carbon dioxide. What he found was blood with the most carbon dioxide in it,(more acidic), managed to loosen more oxygen from the hemoglobin particles within the blood.
Oxygen is carried in the blood via hemoglobin compounds and when more carbon dioxide is present more oxygen is released in that part of the body.
This discovery explained why certain muscles used during training received more oxygen than lesser-used muscles. They were producing more carbon dioxide which attracted more oxygen. It was supplied on-demand on a molecular level.
Carbon dioxide also had a dilating effect on blood vessels, opening these pathways so they could carry more oxygen-rich blood to hungry cells.
Breathing less allowed animals to produce more energy more efficiently.
The fast rapid breathing that takes place when the Sympathetic Nervous system is kicked in, when one is on “fight or flight or freeze” mode, immediately reduces the carbon dioxide and this causes reduced blood flow to muscles, tissues and organs.
Hence modern men and women are stressing themselves into unfit and unhealthy states that result in a lowering of the quality of life.
So looking after your nervous system is vital to health and happiness and fitness for all parts of your body. Come into Get Back Health Chiropractic and Wellness Clinic and get your spine realigned and adjusted on a regular basis and see the difference yourself.
Yours in Health
John Keane Spinologist
PS: So Carbon dioxide is essential for life and health of all cells, tissues, muscles and organs because it is not that the blood simply takes oxygen to the muscles, the oxygen is in the body most of the time, it when we release carbon dioxide from the muscles and organs and cells that the carbon dioxide assists in the transfer of oxygen to the cells, tissues, muscles and organs and thus we have greater health and livingness.